Most teams wouldn’t want their quarterback having to make the biggest tackle of the game, but Ric Aguirre isn’t your average quarterback.

For the second time this season, Aguirre prevented a team from tying the game on a two-point conversion. Yesterday, Mount St. Michael held off Christ the King 14-12.

“I love playing defense,” said Aguirre, who was Mount’s (3-1) cornerback before taking over at QB this season. “Being out there is great, but I can’t be out there as often as I’d like.”

Maybe not, but he made good use of his time yesterday. After Christ the King (1-4, 1-3 in the CHSFL) rallied from a 14-0 deficit with two second-half touchdowns, it needed one more play to tie the game.

CTK quarterback hit Larry Giove with a short pass on the conversion attempt and he looked like he might be able to get into the end zone. But Aguirre met him almost as soon as he caught the ball and drove him back. Marcus Watson came up while Aguirre held on and drove him to the ground.

“I knew I couldn’t let him in,” Aguirre said. “If he did, we probably would have had a different outcome. You never want to let them tie. As long as you’re winning, you’re in control. I wanted to stay in control.”

He was able to, barely.

“How close did he get?” CTK head coach Mike Cassidy said. “The half-yard line? The guy made a great play to stop him.”

The game was only so close because of sloppy play by both squads. Mount was unable to put CTK away and it nearly came back to haunt it. Aguirre was sacked and fumbled by the Mountaineers on CTK’s 6-yard-line. CTK recovered, and took command with a ground game powered by Tommy Johnson (15 carries, 140 yards, TD) and Omar Gaines (14-57).

Johnson scampered 41 yards through a big hole for a long touchdown that got the Royals back in it. After a three-and-out by The Mount, CTK got the ball back, but Gaines threw an interception on a halfback option play to end their hopes.

But The Mount looked poised to put the game away earlier. It scored early in the second quarter on a 79-yard drive that was aided by a bad penalty by the Royals. On third-and-13 from their own 42, Aguirre heaved a long pass in the direction of Philip Alexander, but overthrew him. CTK was called for pass interference on the play and Mount used the strong running of fullback Dennis Void to score first.

The 6-foot, 215-pound Void (13 carries, 67 yards) was plowing through the Royals’ defense before leaving temporarily with an injured ankle. The Mount’s offense looked lost without Void before he returned in the second half.

“We need him in there,” said Aguirre. “When he went out, I tried to make myself believe that it wouldn’t affect us. But I know that it did. So much of what we do is based on him.”

Indeed, on their first scoring drive, Void did all the

dirty work before Mike Davila raced in from 12 yards on a misdirection play. Davila (6 carries, 40 yards, two touchdowns) scored again in the third quarter from seven yards to give the Mountaineers a 14-0 lead. But Mount couldn’t do anything after that.

The Mounties survived because the Royals couldn’t score early, marred by bad penalties that negated any big plays they did make.

And although his team won, Valentini knows the feeling.

“We’re a young team and still learning how to win,” Valentini said. “But at least we’re winning while we’re doing that.”